Pratt needs a year to catch up on A320neo engine deliveries

Pratt & Whitney (P&W) does not anticipate catching up with its PW1100G engine delivery commitments until the end of 2017, says its vice-president of marketing Paul Finklestein.

“The biggest challenge we have today is delivering enough engines,” he said at the FlightGlobal Finance Forum West Coast in San Francisco on 10 November. “It will take through next year to get to where we need to be.”

The backlog of PW1100G deliveries has resulted in delays to Airbus A320neo-family aircraft equipped with the geared turbofan engine. Airbus has said it will miss its delivery targets for the type this year, and both airlines and lessors have warned of delivery delays into 2017.

Air Lease chief executive John Plueger said earlier this month that Airbus had advised them to expect “a few month delays” on all of its P&W-powered A320neo and A321neo deliveries in 2017.

The Los Angeles-based lessor was scheduled to take eight aircraft with PW1100G engines in 2017.

In October, Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker cited the risk of further A320neo delivery delays for its decision to sign a letter of intent with Boeing for up to 60 737 Max 8 aircraft.

“The Neos are having problems,” he said. “The airlines that have received them are not getting the quantities that they require because of the ongoing issues with that aircraft.”

Qatar has orders for 46 A320neo and A321neo aircraft equipped with PW1100G engines.

P&W chief executive Greg Hayes has said that there are roughly 30 to 40 parts that are causing the PW1100G production delays, of which five are critical. These include the lightweight hybrid aluminum-titanium fan blades used in the engine.

However, P&W has not previously said how long it would take to catch up to its PW1100G commitments, beyond that it would deliver 150 engines this year and between 350 and 400 in 2017.

The production delays follow some entry-into-service issues for the geared turbofan issue on the A320neo. These included extended motor-to-start cycle requirements that at around 3min were more than double the industry standard of about 1min and that have since been corrected by P&W.